"My son's a good son, he has been wrongly accused," she cried from the steps of the Golden Hill Street courthouse.

But inside the courthouse, Assistant State's Attorney Marc Durso was telling Superior Court Judge Jane Emons that they had not one, but two witnesses who put the gun in Perez's hand.

Durso also pointed out the 37-year-old Perez has only been out of prison two years after serving a prison term for conspiracy to commit murder. He urged her to set a high bond.

The judge ordered Perez held in lieu of $2 million bond and continued the case for two weeks.

Perez, of Dover Street, is charged with one count of murder for the fatal shooting Nov. 26 of Raheem Hargrove-Murray. It was the 22nd murder in the city this year.

Hargrove-Murray was found lying in a pool of blood on the sidewalk of Clinton Avenue across from Bassick High School. He had been shot about a half dozen times.

Police said Perez had been involved in a dispute with Hargrove-Murray over a woman both men were dating.

They said Hargrove-Murray arranged to meet Perez at 7 p.m. across from the high school to try and work things out. But instead, police said Perez leaped out of a car with a handgun and began firing at the victim. A wounded Hargrove-Murray fell to the sidewalk and Perez stood over him and continued firing bullets into the man's body, police continued.

At least two people driving on Fairfield Avenue witnessed the murder, police said, and took down the license plate number of Perez's car as he roared from the scene. He was arrested a short distance away after he stopped to buy some Chinese food.

According to court and Department of Corrections records, in May 1993 Perez was sentenced to 20 years in prison on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of a man in Stamford. He was released on March 7, 2008, for time served.